Saturday, June 16, 2001



Saturday, June 16, 2001

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Wallet of slain LV teen found in suspects' SUV

By GLENN PUIT 

REVIEW-JOURNAL 

Search warrants served in the slaying case of Las Vegas teen Michelle Curran indicate her accused killers were in possession of the girl's identification and a variety of restraints.

Also found in the vehicle belonging to California murder suspects Michael Thornton, 45, and Janeen Snyder, 21, were sexual devices, maps and addresses for a variety of California schools, according to the warrants.

That discovery has alarmed authorities because Curran, 16, was last seen by her mother April 4 on her way to Western High School.

"I don't think there is any good explanation for it," Riverside County, Calif., Deputy District Attorney Michael Rushton said of the maps.

Curran was reported as a runaway in April. Her mother, Candy Curran, suspects she was abducted, but other evidence indicates Curran could have willingly accompanied Snyder and Thornton to California.

The teen was found fatally shot April 23 in a horse trailer near Rubidoux, Calif. Six days earlier, Snyder and Thornton had been seen near the trailer, prompting their arrest and the eventual murder charges they now face.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department obtained a search warrant for the sport utility vehicle Snyder and Thornton were apprehended in, according to Riverside County Superior Court records. The GMC Suburban was registered to an Arizona woman and contained 61 items.

Records state that inside the vehicle were Curran's identification and wallet, firearms, duct tape, a ski mask, padlocks, rope, handcuffs, bungee cords, and a "Velcro strap" with duct tape and strands of hair on it.

"It's certainly a kit involved in facilitating some sort of sexual conduct," Rushton said. "They are materials that could be used in abducting and raping someone."

Thornton's California attorney, Carl Johnson, acknowledged that Curran was with Thornton and Snyder but that Thornton had nothing to do with her death.

Regarding the evidence recovered from the sport utility vehicle, Johnson said, "Appearances sometimes are not reality.

"We'd ask people to just withhold from making any snap judgments until all the facts come out," Johnson said.

An attorney who represents Snyder did not return a phone call Friday.

In a declaration seeking the warrant, Riverside County Investigator Steven Welch wrote the case unfolded when a deputy named Chris Barajas was called to the home of a woman near Rubidoux on April 14. The woman said she arrived home and noticed the chain to her driveway had been cut.

As she was walking up to her driveway, she heard a gunshot and saw a female standing next to her horse shed. The woman could hear a male voice whispering, telling the woman what to say.

The woman went into her home and called 911. She also noticed that her house appeared to have been broken into. Barajas noticed blood on the floor of the horse shed, Welch wrote.

Barajas then heard a suspicious vehicle call on his police radio, and that the two people inside the vehicle had fled. Snyder and Thornton were arrested moments later.

The owner of the horse shed later identified Snyder at a police lineup as the woman she saw standing by the shed.

When Snyder was booked into jail, she had a Clark County Health Distribution Card belonging to Curran, Welch wrote.

In a search of a hotel room near Rubidoux that authorities say the pair were staying in, police found a white laundry bag marked "Michelle Curran," according to the warrants.

In April 2000, Snyder and Thornton were arrested in San Bernardino County, Calif., on suspicion of lewd acts with a child under 14 and false imprisonment with violence.

In that case, a teen in Fontana, Calif., reported to authorities she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by the two. The district attorney's office in San Bernardino County later declined to pursue charges, saying evidence in the case was not sufficient.

Rushton said given that history and the materials found in the sport utility vehicle, authorities are trying to determine if there are any other similar crimes in their region that could be associated with the Curran case.

"We are pursuing every available lead that we can," Rushton said.

Snyder and Thornton both are awaiting trial. They could face the death penalty if convicted.

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